Page 141 - The Professionalisation of Political Communication Chaning Media, Changing Europe Volume 3

Political Communication.qxd 5/1/07 15:06 Page 140
Political Communication.qxd 12/7/06 7:30 pm Page 138

138 | THE PROFESSIONALISM OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

prescribed the rights and the responsibilities of his party’s MPs,including the rule not to
make statements, send telegrams, write for newspapers or give press interviews
without the prior consent of the party directorate (Alivizatos, 1995, p. 173). Fourteen
years later (10 September 1995) in a major press interview Papandreou commented:

The political climate is appalling nowadays.This is due, to a large extent, to television.
Television has disorganised us. Every member of the party (not only from PASOK),
runs to the screen where he expresses his own positions rather than the position of
the party, which we are obliged as members (of PASOK) to communicate to the
public. Is it possible for a party with 170 MPs to have 170 positions on an issue? Can
we solve this problem by ‘expelling’(karatomiseis) party members?

The media have also began to fight with the politicians over the control of the political
The media have also begun to fight with the politicians over the control of the political
agenda and have started to make themselves heard in the process of political
communication with a constant stream of criticism of politicians and the actions of the
parties (Demertzis & Kafetzis, 1996; Komninou, 1996).The rise of the commercial media
may have precipitated this trend and created a situation where today Greek citizens can
watch an endless stream of negative stories about political scandals, rivalry, conflict and
self-interest. And, as with the media in other liberal democratic countries, the Greek
media have tried to create stories about political conflict by giving particular attention
to politicians who hold controversial views or who oppose the actions of the
government.

What politicians, parties and ministers have tried in response is to develop relationships
with the media and journalists. This is achieved in a more traditional way, either by
employing journalists in their press office (mainly the ministers) or by developing a
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
close relationship either as a friend, or as a political source, or even by doing them a
favour. Such practices, again, could hardly be considered professional. Rather they
constitute a more elaborated development of the traditional clientelism that
dominated the Greek political system.
dominated Greek political system.

GREEK POLITICS IN THE ERA OF PROFESSIONALISATION
There have undoubtedly been new developments in the Greek media environment,
and the political system as a whole. More importantly, perhaps, these changes reflect a
convergence of developments in both institutions. These changes lend support to
many of the statements made by Mancini and Swanson (1996), amongst others, with
relation to the growing similarities in election practices across many countries: there
are, it would seem, similarities despite great differences in political cultures, histories,
and institutions of the countries in which they have occurred (Mancini & Swanson,
1996, pp. 2–3). Such similarities would include: the use of political commercials
(‘polispots’); candidates being selected in part for the appealing image which they
project on television; the employment of technical experts to advise on strategies; the
professionalisation of campaign communication and the like. These, and the increased
140